


I'm Really Glad We Didn't Die

by Purpleologist



Series: All Our Days [3]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Angst, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, Post-Crooked Kingdom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-27 12:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16702348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpleologist/pseuds/Purpleologist
Summary: Three years after things have calmed down with the Ice Court job and its chaotic aftermath, things are great. Wylan and Jesper have been happily dating and living together in the Van Eck manor, Kaz' responsibilities as the new leader of the Dregs have kept him busy but happy, Inej's reputation as a fearsome foe for slaving ships has grown tenfold, and Nina has been so busy over in Ravka that she's barely had time to visit Ketterdam.Then Jesper begins to spend more and more time away from home. Thingsseemedto be going fine, great even, but Wylan can't help but worry that Jes has fallen into gambling again.(Post-Crooked Kingdom, happy ending I swear the angst is all an illusion)





	I'm Really Glad We Didn't Die

**Author's Note:**

> I got Crooked Kingdom at three in the afternoon on Tuesday and finished it at one in the morning Wednesday and this is the aftermath. Wesper is the most wholesome of all ships in the series (tho MatthiasXNina ((what is their ship name?)) and Kanej are fantastic as well) and how could I NOT write a proposal fic for it.

Wylan knew something was wrong when he woke up and the bed was empty. In the three years since he and Jesper had started dating, he had never once woken up without the Zemeni sharpshooter by his side, long arms usually wrapped around his middle and keeping him pulled tight to his chest like an anchor to the reality that this was all, in fact, real. Sliding out from under the covers and throwing a robe on, he took a moment to remember those months he spent on the street, with nothing close to the luxury he'd grown up with and had now. Even now, they felt like a dream, so far away and yet so real.

 _You wouldn't have Jesper if it wasn't real_ , a voice in the back of his mind whispered, once again reminding him of the mysterious disappearance of said boyfriend. Wylan sought out the nearest servant, asking her where Jesper had went, but she merely shrugged, explaining that 'Mister Fahey left early this morning without notifying any of the staff of where he was going, sir'. The servant, Lyra, offered to prepare breakfast, but Wylan waved her off. He didn't want to eat without Jesper and, if he was being honest, he wasn't quite hungry yet. It was early for him to be up, for either of them to be up, and he was used to eating hours later in the day. He could just wait. Jesper would be home soon.

 

Jesper was not, in fact, home soon. He wasn't home until two hours later, when they'd usually just be rising, sneaking in through the back entrance of the house and trying to make it seem that he had just been in some other part of the too-large manor. Wylan smiled, gave him a kiss, and pretended the lie didn't bother him. He'd learned pretending well over the years, learned that keeping a poker face was an asset almost more valuable than reading, and only one of those was something that Jesper could provide. He'd just never thought that he'd be using it on the person in his life that he loved most. But it was only a one-time thing. Surely, things would go back to normal and this would just be another day amongst the many they shared.

* * *

It happened again.

And again.

And again.

Several times a month now, Wylan woke to find Jesper gone, and some nights he would even disappear after dinner, kissing Wylan drunk before leaving to distract him. As much as he enjoyed the kisses, which were  _always_ appreciated, he can't help but feel empty when he crawls into bed alone, looking at the empty space next to him. A voice in the back of his mind that sounded far too similar to his father began to whisper, claiming that Jes had sunken into the gambling dens yet again or that he'd found somebody better than the mess of a mercher's son that he was.

On one of the now-many occasions in which Jesper slipped away, Wylan paid Kaz a visit in the Slat, the cramped and dilapidated building no more welcoming now than it had been before. Frankly, it was less welcoming. Wylan was now considered among the cities best merchants and 'his lot' were never quite welcome in the Barrel, not unless they were here to waste their fortune away.

As soon as he stepped into Kaz's office, the older boy spoke.

"What business, Wylan?" He asked, with every bit of professionalism and tact that he held with his enemies.

"I..." he hesitated, silently debating over if this was the right thing to do or not, but his curiosity won out in the end, "I want to know if you've seen Jesper around the Barrel at all. He hasn't been at home as much lately, and-"

"And you worry that he's fallen back into old habits?" Kaz assumed, nodding as he spoke. "Don't worry, I've had people keeping an eye on the gambling dens for just that reason. He hasn't touched Makker's Wheel since he ran with me."

"Oh." Wylan wasn't sure whether to consider that good news or bad news, but with the way his gut churned, he could safely assume it was bad.  _If he's not gambling, then what is he doing?_

"I'll keep an eye out for him, Wylan, don't worry," he reassured him, showing a brief flicker of caring under his layers and layers of masks, "but trust Jes. He may pull some pretty stupid stunts, but most of the time he knows what he's doing."

The words were meant to be comfort, a token from Jesper's closest friend to attest to the fact that he needn't worry.

And yet, he did.

* * *

Months went by. For months and months, Wylan let his worries simmer in the pit of his stomach like a stew, watching Jesper come and go from their home without seeming to care that it was eating him up inside. The only logical conclusion was that Jesper had found somebody else, somebody better, somebody who didn't ask him to read every little thing aloud.

He thought Jesper enjoyed reading to him. Jesper had  _said_ he liked reading to him. Whether it was a novel or a business paper, Wylan loved to hear the way Jesper's steady voice made the words that were nothing but nonsense to him and on more than one occasion Wylan had asked him to reread a section because he'd gotten too caught up with watching his boyfriend's perfectly shaped lips move with the rhythm of the words, watch his grey eyes gleam in the dwindling sunlight, eyes that filled with mischief when he caught Wylan staring. 

Three times he'd gone to Kaz asking to know where Jesper was going and three times Kaz had assured him that it was nothing to worry about. Once Wylan had even tried to buy the answers from the now-notorious Barrel boss, but Kaz had refused. "I won't take your money, Wylan. Trust Jes, and if you won't do that, trust me."

Wylan trusted Jesper, or at least he wanted to think so. He  _had_ to think so. The two of them didn't survive the Ice Court and his father's own scheming to not trust each other (he pointedly ignored the Kuwei incident in this observation) and he simply had to believe that Jesper was just... Busy. With what, he didn't know, but seeing as thinking about it made him feel sick to his stomach, he decided that he just simply wouldn't.

He could spend time with his mother instead. Marya Hendricks had gotten better in leaps and bounds these past few years, eventually moving to a much smaller, more modest home. "The manor's too big, Wylie dear," she'd said, "and it reminds me too much of your father. Plus, I'm sure you and that boyfriend of yours will be glad to have me out of the house." Though his cheeks had burned at his mother's insinuation, he'd also fought the urge to beg her to stay. After all, the sprawling house reminded him of his father as well, and it was just as damning for him to remember what Jan Van Eck had done as it was for her. But... he'd respected her decision, insisting to pay for her new house and help move her art supplies over. She'd left them a portrait as a gift. A painting of the two of them, seemingly captured in the moment, grinning at each other for no reason other than the fact that they could. He loved that portrait and he'd thought that Jesper loved it too.

A whisper in the back of Wylan's mind asked  _"what if you don't know him like you thought?"_

Wylan determinedly pushed it aside.

But... as the days dragged on, alone in the manor more and more, so did the meetings, and so did the papers, now read aloud by an obliging servant in a bland monotone instead of Jesper's deep baritone. Eventually it grew to a point where Wylan just couldn't stand it. Tonight, at dinner, he would confront Jes. He would ask him where he'd been going and if he didn't get an answer... Well, he didn't know what he'd do if he didn't get an answer, but he would do  _something_.

 

Jesper was, of course, late to dinner.

"Sorry, Wy, I just got a bit caught up," he said, flashing a grin as he slid into his chair. On a normal day, that grin would've melted him, turning his heart to mush, but tonight... tonight he would weather it.

"Caught up doing what?" Wylan asked pointedly, picking at his food.

Jesper hesitated for a moment before answering, "I was doin' something for Kaz."

"Oh really?" he said, dropping his fork to the table with a klang. "Because Kaz never said anything about you helping him."

"You asked Kaz about me?" Jesper seemed almost offended and the fact that he was made Wylan's blood boil.

"You've been disappearing on a near-daily basis for months now, what was I supposed to do?" he felt like he was gonna cry or yell or storm out, but he forced himself to stay, eyes glued to the tablecloth as his fists clenched uselessly by his sides, "You could've been out gambling, you could've been getting in trouble, you could've-"

"Wy," he'd stood now, and crossed to Wylan's side of the table, crouched next to his side with a gentle hand on his arm. "I wasn't doing any of that, I swear."

"Then what were you doing, Jes? Because you were gone so much and I... I didn't know what to think." Jesper looked to the ground and sighed, fishing around in his pocket.

"I was planning to do this differently. Different room, different words, different timing," he explained, shifting to put one knee on the ground. "But I guess this is as good a time as any."

In his hand, Jesper held a ring.

"Wylan Van Eck, will you marry me?"

The ring was far from perfect, lumped oddly in some points and the colors were a messy twist of silver, gold, and even grey Grisha steel, but to Wylan it was the most beautiful thing he'd seen. Words caught in his throat and he could simply nod, letting his boyfriend take his hands and gently uncurl the fists.

"It's not much," Jesper told him, slipping the ring onto his finger carefully, "but I made it myself, with what I'd been learning, and I just... I thought it'd be a nice gesture. If you want something more..."

"Jes, it's perfect." He said, pulling his boyfriend-  _fiance_ into a loving kiss, servants be damned.

Jesper laughed as he pulled away, "Hardly. I know for a fact that if Nina saw this, she'd confiscate it, but it's the best I could do."

"I love it," he told him, his joy dispelling in a moment, "Oh, Ghezen, Jes, I yelled at you!"

"I wouldn't really call it  _yelling_."

"I asked Kaz to spy on you!"

"Kaz knew what I was up to. Hell, he got me half the materials."

"I thought you were cheating on me!"

"Now,  _that_ is offensive," Jesper declared, frowning, "All the Saints and your Aunt Eva, why would I go find somebody else when I have the best demolitions expert and flutist right here?"

Wylan couldn't help but let out a laugh. "I have no idea."

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the crappy title, but "I really hope we don't die" is basically Wesper "I love you", right?  
> And I might make another chapter (featuring Nina realizing that they're engaged when Inej has already has it figured it out) but that's if I can force myself to crap out another bad chapter of this stuff


End file.
